
Striker Karim Bellarabi will not be able to train with the squad for several days. The forward had to go off in Tuesday night's DFB Cup semi-final at Saarbrücken (3-0) due to a slight muscle injury in his right thigh. When the 30-year-old will be able to rejoin his teammates on the pitch depends on his recovery over the next few days.
Thanks to his impressive performances, Kai Havertz is in the running to be the EA SPORTS Player of the Month for May. The 21-year-old has scored five goals in four league matches since the Bundesliga restart and has three times led the Werkself onto the pitch as captain. Click HERE to vote.
The following Bundesliga players are also nominated in addition to Havertz: Achraf Hakimi (Borussia Dortmund), Christoph Baumgartner (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) plus Joshua Kimmich and Benjamin Pavard (both FC Bayern).
Thanks to the 3-0 win in the semi-finals, the Black and Reds are through to the fourth DFB Cup final in the club's history. Back in 1993, the Werkself showed how to win that game and go on to lift the cup. Bayer 04 TV looks back at the highlights of the cup triumph against the Hertha Berlin Reserves 27 years ago today. Click HERE for the video.
Two former Bayer 04 players celebrate their birthday today: Eren Derdiyok played up front for the Werkself from 2009 to 2012 and in the 2013/14 season. The 32-year-old scored 26 goals for the Black and Reds in 108 Bundesliga appearances. Derdiyok is now playing for Pakhtakor Tashkent in Uzbekistan. And birthday greetings also go to Markus Anfang today. Born in Cologne, he played for the Bayer 04 youth teams and was youth coach at Leverkusen from 2013 to 2016. Anfang celebrates his 46th birthday today. Many happy returns, Eren and Markus.

After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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"In every ending lies a new beginning" is a well-known saying. This phrase has probably never been more apt at Bayer 04. After winning the Bundesliga in 2023/24 and finishing as runners-up in 2024/25, the summer was the most eventful ever in terms of transfers. Over ten players and the coach, including the coaching staff, left the club. A lot of the heroes of the double-winning side began a new chapter. It was the end of an era. And at the same time the beginning of a new, very exciting and promising chapter for Leverkusen. The Werkself welcomed more than a dozen new arrivals, including experienced title-winners and young talents, to build a new "foundation for a successful team capable of winning titles" under the Bayer Cross, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. A new spirit, a new hunger, a new story was to be created. Bayer04.de looks back at the first few months of this story and the final act of the preseason.
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43 points at the end of the last Bundesliga season were not only more than ever before for the Bayer 04 Women, but also led to a record fourth-place finish. That was followed by a Hinrunde with many more victories, but also some setbacks. In an interview with bayer04.de, sporting director Achim Feifel takes stock at the end of the year.
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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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